NEW YORK (AP) — Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will meet with Poland’s president Andrzej Duda Wednesday in New York.
The planned dinner meeting, confirmed by a person familiar with the matter, comes as European leaders prepare for the possibility that Trump could win the November election and return to the White House. Leaders of NATO countries are especially concerned given Trump’s long history of critical comments about the key Western alliance, even after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The person was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Poland, which shares a border with Ukraine, is a member of NATO. Duda, a right-wing populist whose term ends in 2025, has encouraged the United States to send additional money to Ukraine to combat Russian aggression.
Trump has spoken out against such funding, but in a possible shift late last week, the Republican presidential candidate said he could support additional funding if it was in the form of a loan.
Trump is in New York this week for the start of his criminal hush-money trial, which has dramatically limited his campaign movements. He is now the first former president in US history to face criminal charges.
Republicans in Washington, meanwhile, are fighting among themselves over a massive package of foreign aid to Ukraine, Israel and other allies. Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement has been particularly critical of Ukraine’s financing, a position in line with the Republican Party’s softening stance on Russia since Trump’s rise to US politics.
Trump has long praised Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling his invasion of Ukraine “smart” and “clever.” In February, he sent shockwaves around the world after telling a meeting that he had told NATO members who had not spent enough on defense that he would “encourage” Russia to “do whatever they want to them.” . He repeated that threat days later.
Such a move would undermine Article 5, which states that an armed attack against one or more NATO members must be considered an attack against all members.
Another NATO member and a key supporter of support for Ukraine, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron, met with Trump earlier this month at the former president’s estate in Florida, ahead of a visit with the US secretary of state State Department Antony Blinken.
Russia’s European allies have also courted Trump.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, an autocrat who has had the closest relationship with Russia of any European Union country, met privately with Trump last month.
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Associated Press writer Jill Colvin in New York contributed to this report.
